This is the second in a series of previews I’m bringing you each week featuring last season’s Georgia high school football state champions, as each team prepares for spring practice and the defense of their 2022 state title. Last week we gave you an in-depth look at the defending Class 3A state champion Sandy Creek Patriots. This week we take a look at the 2023 Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines, who rolled through the 2022 season with a perfect 14-0 record to claim a region championship and the GHSA Class A-D1 state title with a 52-34 win over Swainsboro.
Last month, we spoke with the Wolverines’ returning starter at quarterback, Aaron Philo, and heard his thoughts on what it’s going to take to defend their title. Philo also talked about the challenge of becoming the all-time passing yards leader in Georgia high school football. Former Cartersville quarterback Trevor Lawrence is the current record holder, but Philo can surpass the Purple Hurricane great by throwing for 4,576 yards this season.
I spoke with Prince Avenue Christian head football coach Greg Vandagriff to get his thoughts on having his standout senior QB back, along with a few other key players, and the challenge of trying to repeat in 2023.
Title Defense Will Be Tough in 2023
Winning a state title is tough enough. But the 2023 season for Prince Avenue Christian could be their toughest yet. Consider:
The team’s defense was decimated by graduation. “Honestly, we lose just about everybody from our defense,” Vandagriff says.
Then there’s the Wolverines offense that will see its top three 2022 receivers not returning. Even the veteran Vandagriff admits that’s a tough one.
“I don’t know of any team that has ever lost three 1000-yard receivers like we have,” he said.
Gone are Josh Britt, Bailey Stockton, and Ethan Christian. The receiving trio accounted for over 3,750 yards last season.
Finally, the schedule Prince Avenue Christian faces in 2023 will again be one of the toughest in the state, of any team, in any classification.
“Last year’s schedule was the toughest in the history of the school,” Vandagriff said.
While the 2023 Prince Avenue Christian schedule will mostly reflect the same opponents as last season, there will be two new teams as well. Also, the Wolverines’ first two weeks will see the team travel to South Carolina and Tennessee to open the season.
“We will play in four different states this year,” said Vandagriff.
But that’s one of the things you face when you’re one of the state’s most successful football programs, and you happen to be coming off two straight state title games, Vandagriff said.
“When you’re coming off a season of playing for a state championship, no one wants to play you,” he said. “It becomes very difficult to find non-region opponents that want to play us.”
Last year’s season opener was against the Hammond School from South Carolina, a team that had lost just five games over the previous five seasons while winning multiple state championships during that same time. Prince Avenue Christian will open the 2023 season against the SkyHawks but will travel to Columbia, SC for the game this time.
The Wolverines will turn right around and travel again for their Week 2 game. That will be against the Nashville Christian School Eagles and will be played at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. Nashville Christian has won 41 games over the past four seasons. The other new team on this year’s schedule will be Pensacola Catholic. That will be in Week and will once again force the Wolverines to travel out of state, this time to Florida. Like every other opponent, the Crusaders are a tough bunch. They are a member of FHSSA Class 2S, and they finished 10-2 last season.
Vandagriff said this year’s schedule will again be very tough.
“It was like that with every team last season,” he said. “They were all tough. As it turned out, every team in our nine regular season games last year was a playoff team.”
The Wolverines took on the school’s toughest schedule ever and rolled. Prince Avenue Christian finished 14-0 overall and 3-0 in region 5A-D1 en route to their second state title in the last three seasons.
Can they do it again this year?
Aaron Philo Is Back for PAC
Yes, the team has lost a lot of talent that was a big reason for those two state titles in three seasons, but there’s plenty of reason to consider the Wolverines one of the favorites in 2023. One big reason is the return of the team’s starting quarterback. And, for most teams, you can go as far as your quarterback will take you.
Senior QB Aaron Philo is ready to take the Wolverines all the way, and he just may become Georgia high school football’s all-time career passing yards leader in the process. But as he told me in my March interview, some young players that we haven’t heard from previously are going to have to step up.
Still, the Wolverines senior signal-caller and his head coach both sound optimistic about the 2023 Prince Avenue Christian team.
“We have enough talent that should put us in a position to have a shot at winning the state title again,” Philo said.
Vandagriff agreed: “We’ll have to find the right pieces of the puzzle this season, and we’ll probably filter through a few kids, but we’ve been here before, especially with our receiving corps.”
Philo, who had been committed to the University of Minnesota, has since decommitted from the Golden Gophers and reopened his recruitment process. He announced his decision on Twitter earlier this month.
Vandagriff pointed out a few players he thinks will be the key to the Wolverines making another run this season.
“It starts with having our senior quarterback returning, and Aaron will make everyone around him better,” the coach said. “Our tight end, Nick Hurley, is a 6 foot, 3 inch player who has a chance to have great year, and right now I think we’ll have Thornton Hester and Gaines Stockton lining up as our slot receivers. On the outside, Brody Tolbert is the guy heading into this offseason. They’ll get the first shot, then after those guys, I expect we’ll roll a few other players in there and see what they can do.”
“We Really Have to Rebuild Our Entire Defense”
You feel like Vandagriff and his staff will find the answers on offense to put the Wolverines in a position to win it all again this year. It’s the defense that may take the most work.
“We really have to rebuild our entire defense,” Vandagriff acknowledged.
The Wolverines will have one starter returning, and Vandagriff doesn’t hold back on his praise for junior Christian Garrett.
“He may be the biggest prospect coming out of here since Brock,” the head coach said, referring to his son, Brock Vandagriff, who was the Prince Avenue Christian starter prior to Philo taking over. Brock is now at UGA, where he is in a rotation of three QBs all competing for the starting job.
Christian Garrett is a 6 foot, 3 inch, 285-pound defensive tackle, and Vandagriff said “he looks every bit the part.”
Despite not having the personnel, Vandagriff isn’t exactly losing sleep worrying about that part of his team.
“We believe in scoring a lot of points, and when you do that, you don’t have to play that tough run defense,” he said. “But you do have to play good pass defense.”
Basically, you just gotta outscore the other guys.
Special Teams
Returning to handle kicking and punting chores for Prince Avenue Christian in 2023 will be senior Tyler Denny. Kohl’s Kicking Camp rates him as a four-star kicker, and a 4.5 punter.
“Tyler has been in our program for the past three years, and he’ll give us a solid kicking and punt game once again this season,” Vandagriff said.
One of the keys to Prince Avenue Christian’s success has been taking care of their region games, and it’s paid off. The Wolverines’ last region loss came in 2019; since then they’ve won 11 straight region contests.
Vandagriff thinks the biggest threat to that streak is Social Circle.
“The coach over there has done a really good job,” he said. “They’ll be the team to beat this year in our region.”
The coach Vandagriff is referring to is Rob Patten, who will be entering his fourth season as the head coach at Social Circle.
The region could be decided when these two teams meet in the final week of the 2023 regular season at Prince Avenue Christian on November 3.
